Chapter 88: Awaken Your Ancestors

Chapter 88: Awakening, Your Ancestor

Caron walked down the stairs, quietly taking his place beside Eunice's two brothers while fastening the buttons on his cuffs. These two brothers were named Chad and Yar;

How should one put it? They belonged to that sort of crowd who, at a single glance, clearly did not seem very bright.

Furthermore, their names were nowhere to be found on the first-tier roster of the eighteen families' faith system.

When considering that their father, Patriarch Bede, had also failed to awaken the primordial lineage;

It made Caron harbor a faint suspicion: was it possible that old Anderson had been cuckolded?

Otherwise, it was difficult to explain how Wood, Mike, and old Anderson himself were all third-tier, yet this entire family of the youngest son proved utterly useless.

Oh, there was still Eunice left, who had not yet participated in the awakening trial.

Chad and Yar respectfully stepped aside to clear a path. Caron made a "shh" gesture, signaling for these two prospective brothers-in-law to keep quiet.

At this moment, old Anderson sat in his place while Mr. Bede conversed with the Queen's special envoy. Since they had not introduced him but still wished for him to come down, they clearly intended for him to listen in.

"The Queen's meaning is precisely this. The location for tomorrow's excursion is not far from Allen Manor. Having heard that Lady Jenny and Miss Eunice have already returned from visiting relatives, Her Majesty misses them dearly and wishes for an audience.

Furthermore, Prince Henry also deeply misses Miss Eunice."

Hearing this sentence, Caron furrowed his brows.

"I am terribly sorry, but Eunice caught a chill upon her return and has not yet recovered. Therefore, she will not be able to attend Her Majesty the Queen's audience tomorrow. However, Jenny and Lisa will attend in person to properly serve Her Majesty."

The envoy was somewhat surprised to hear this, but nonetheless replied:

"Yet Her Majesty the Queen has meticulously prepared a gift for Miss Eunice."

"Then we can only trouble Jenny to express gratitude for the Queen's bounty on behalf of her daughter."

"Is it truly impossible? What I mean is, if Miss Eunice's illness is not so severe..."

"It is very severe. She truly cannot leave the house, nor can she be exposed to the wind. Eunice's illness is a trivial matter, but given the season, if she were to pass it to Her Majesty the Queen, it would be an immense sin upon the Allen house.

Please convey to Her Majesty that once Eunice recovers, I will have her personally seek an audience at the palace to thank Her Majesty for her consideration."

"Then... very well. However, when the Queen's retinue departs tomorrow..."

"The Allen family will look after all the necessities for the Queen's retinue. Before Her Majesty arrives, everything there will undoubtedly be arranged."

"Excellent."

The envoy stood up and took his leave.

In truth, everyone from the Allen family in the drawing room knew perfectly well that Eunice went out horseback riding with Young Master Caron almost every single night, but naturally, no one would be foolish enough to reveal anything in front of the envoy.

Leaning on his cane, old Anderson immediately arrived at Caron's side, while Mr. Bede stood on the other.

"In truth, Eunice has no relation to that Prince Henry. We have never promised anything to the royal family, and there is certainly no marriage contract between them."

"Yes, when Eunice accompanied her mother to Rulan, she carried no marriage contract, nor any other entanglements."

"As you know, how could we dare deceive your grandfather? If she truly harbored any complications, she would have confessed immediately upon learning of that purple bookmark."

"Yes, we are entirely candid. Please, Young Master, believe in Eunice's candor toward you as well."

Caron smiled faintly. "I believe Eunice."

Upon hearing this, old Anderson and Bede exhaled a long sigh of relief almost simultaneously; at this moment, they looked remarkably like father and son.

"So, is the Wien royal family's status highly transcendent?" Caron inquired.

"In the secular realm, it is no longer so transcendent. The royal family's authority has also been constrained," Bede remarked.

"On a religious level, all factions tacitly allow the Gloria family to retain the crown, remaining the nominal joint ruler of the Wien Empire and its various dependencies and colonies."

"Very well, I understand." Caron nodded.

"Rest assured, this sort of matter will not become a source of trouble for you," old Anderson promised.

"I trust you, Mr. Anderson."

Without further exchange, Caron walked up the stairs and returned to the third floor.

However, he chose not to re-enter the study, returning instead to his master bedroom.

Inside the master bedroom, the golden retriever lay sprawled on the sofa;

Puer, meanwhile, sat on the windowsill, using her cat paw dipped in ink to draw something.

"What are you drawing?" Caron approached and asked.

"A method to solve that little thing Mike's physical issues. It is just that you cannot comprehend it now; you will understand once your purification ritual is complete.

Mike's talent is actually decent, even without his legs...

In truth, the abilities of our Allen family's faith system do not have much to do with whether one's limbs are intact, unlike those family faith systems that absolutely require petrification or beastification inheritances.

Otherwise, back then, I could not possibly have enjoyed turning into a cat to run around everywhere."

"I have yet to see your family's abilities," Caron noted.

"Then summon that little thing Anderson over to perform for you."

"The Queen's special envoy just visited."

"Oh." Puer was utterly indifferent.

"There is a Prince Henry who seems to pay a great deal of attention to Eunice."

"Oh, heavens, what an utterly melodramatic plotline. But I believe that unless Anderson ate a whole wagon of canned herring last night, he can certainly handle the matter properly."

"That is exactly what he said."

"Mhm, that is good then. But you can also rest assured; though I thought very little of the Wien royal family back then, even now with the Allen family fallen on hard times, they would not be so stupid as to throw themselves entirely at the mercy of the royals."

"Why?"

"Because the Gloria family—which is to say, the Wien royal family—is the most avaricious and hotchpotch of all the families possessing faith systems in the entirety of Wien.

There is a famous painting called *The Depravity of the Royal Family*, do you know of it?"

"I have seen it in an art album." The previous 'Caron' possessed this painting in his memory; of course, it certainly was not the original piece.

"Ordinary people believe that painting depicts the royal family's extravagant lifestyle and various chaotic, incestuous relationships. You must know, a relationship between a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law is considered perfectly normal within the royal family; after all, they share no blood relation.

But in reality, this painting satirizes how the Wien royal family, in order to continuously enrich and cultivate their own faith system, not only desperately used external marriages to absorb other families' systems, but were also obsessed with selecting compatible systems within their own family for mating experiments.

They cared only about whether the systems matched and the tier of the system, checking further if the male still possessed the capacity to sow seeds and if the female still possessed the capacity to conceive;

As for ethics and morality, they completely disregarded them.

Therefore, the only difference between submitting to the Wien royals and being swallowed by the Raphael family is... whether the Allen family will live in a pigsty forged of gold or a pigsty enclosed by earthen walls in the future."

"I understand."

"Therefore, my dear Young Master Caron, you must hurry. We must traverse the preliminary foundational stages at the absolute fastest speed, striving to have you promoted to the rank of Inquisitor as early as possible."

"Is the Church of Order truly so easy to fool?" Caron asked. "I mean, regarding forging a false identity."

"Do you truly believe all Inquisitors are as conscientious and responsible as Diss? Do you believe everyone within the Church of Order is upright and incorruptible?

Those who wield order are the first to be corroded by rust.

Rest easy, it is not as difficult as you think."

Most importantly, Diss must have left a warning before he entered his slumber. I am certain the Church of Order over in Ruilan dares not even keep watch on No. 13 Mink Street; at most, they would manage a fleeting, surreptitious glance once a month as they feigned a casual stroll past the gates.

As for tracking every single soul within the family—ha, then you vastly underestimate the deterrent force of Diss casting away a divinity to detonate the Temple of Order, and you far underestimate the sheer pressure the Church of Order feels from his slumber there.

They dare not touch your family, nor do they dare come and investigate you. Furthermore, anything regarding Diss is bound to be a closely guarded secret among the upper echelons of the Church of Order; it will not filter down to Wien.

In Wien, you are free. Once a proper identity is arranged for you, you can walk the path of the Church of Order openly and uprightly.

Even if we take ten thousand steps back, once you have truly grown into your own, it will not matter even if your identity is exposed. It would merely go against Diss’s original intent, but for you, there would be no danger whatsoever.

The sole direct-line grandson of Diss, who managed to condense three divine fragments—the Temple of Order would enshrine you like a priceless treasure, treating you far better than they ever did a genius like Rasma back then.

"Mm."

"We need to hurry," Purr said with absolute gravity. "I am doing this for my now-feeble family, but you are doing this for Diss. The two of us—no, counting Diss, the three of us—share a purpose that is entirely aligned."

"Yes." Karen offered Purr a slight smile. "I'm off to ride the horse."

"Go on, go on, silly boy. Come, let us inspect the renovated theater once more to see if it meets the standards."

The golden retriever leapt off the sofa, and Purr sprang onto its back, wiping paws still stained with ink against the dog's fur.

"Move out, stupid dog!"

"Woof!"

...

Karen went downstairs, where Alfred and Borg were already waiting with the horses in hand.

The current hour was two hours earlier than his usual appointment with Eunice.

"Master, perhaps we could choose the evening instead?" Alfred suggested.

"What difference is there between day and night?" Karen flipped himself onto his white horse.

"It seems that is indeed the case." Only then did Alfred recall that they still had to keep it from the black cat, who slept right at the master's feet during the night.

Borg did not mount, remaining where he stood.

Karen glanced back at him and said, "Come along."

"Yes, Master." A smile bloomed on Borg’s face as he swung himself into the saddle.

In truth, since arriving at the Allen family, there were very few people Karen could truly trust. This did not mean the members of the Allen family were untrustworthy, but like Purr, they placed the family above all else.

They were currently like-minded companions only because his own growth aligned perfectly with the development of their family.

Borg was different. He always wore a bright, sunny smile, but he possessed not an ounce of affection for the Allen family; as he grew, his hatred for the family would only intensify.

The trio rode until they reached the cemetery, where they halted, and Karen dismounted.

"Master, which one shall we choose for the experiment?" Alfred inquired.

"I don't know either."

Borg followed behind the two of them with immense curiosity. Conducting an experiment, here?

Karen’s original intention was to attempt to awaken that Count Recard, for the man had left too deep an impression upon him.

Especially today, when the Queen's envoy arrived, conveying Prince Henry's interest in Eunice;

Should he not awaken a pirate captain who once treated Queen Gloria as a lover at his beck and call, serving it up as a "return gift"?

"Borg, is that first ancestor buried here as well?" Karen asked.

"Yes, Master. When Mr. Alfred had me investigate the burial details of the cemetery, I re-acquainted myself with the tombstones of every generation of the Allen ancestors buried here.

The ancestor's position is right here."

Borg pointed toward a black stone situated in the central area of the cemetery.

"This one?" Karen crouched down before the black stone.

The stone was very low, and after enduring centuries of wind and frost, it appeared somewhat rounded. If placed in a public area, it would likely be mistaken by tourists for a bench to rest upon.

Count Recard's pirate ship tombstone stood right beside it, its design exceedingly extravagant, completely overshadowing the ancestor's grave.

This Count Recard was truly so domineering that he disregarded all sense of hierarchy and respect.

Karen raised his head, casting a glance at the sky and looking pointedly at the distant castle before giving Alfred a meaningful look.

Understanding the cue, Alfred’s eyes flushed crimson as he drew a deck of playing cards and tossed them out.

Mr. Hoffen had gifted Karen many books, one of which was entirely dedicated to forbidden curses, alongside a vast collection of basic arrays from various churches.

Karen had not yet undergone purification, so he could only read them without being able to learn or use them; Alfred, however, had truly begun studying them with earnest dedication from the very start of their journey.

Unlike Purr, he bore no burdens or attachments regarding a family; his entire mind and soul were set upon making it onto the mural.

Thus his goal was clear, and his subjective initiative to learn was incredibly strong.

"Abyss—Primary Barrier!"

A faint black curtain of light rippled outward with Alfred at its center, shrouding the cemetery.

Karen’s gaze continued to sweep across the tombstones, yet he still failed to find a suitable target.

However, he then smiled to himself. Why was he overthinking it? He was merely here to conduct an experiment, for he was still uncertain whether he could truly awaken a powerful figure who possessed genuine spirituality and an established system of faith during their lifetime.

Karen straightened his posture, decisively closed his eyes, and spread his hands wide.

Seeing this scene unfold beside him, Borg involuntarily stepped back a few paces, not daring to disturb him.

Awake... awake... awake...

Karen chanted silently within his heart.

At first, there was no effect whatsoever.

Yet Karen did not grow anxious; instead, he continued to soothe his inner mind, attempting to achieve an intrinsic perception with the surrounding environment.

It was as though he were not standing in a cemetery now, but rather lying upon the bed in his own bedroom.

Awake... awake... awake...

Borg’s eyes suddenly widened. He saw a black chain manifest beneath the master's feet, slowly revolving around him.

Alfred noticed this scene as well, a faint smile touching the corner of his lips: this was a good beginning!

He had always believed that the master’s mystery was not something an evil god could compare to; otherwise, why was it the master who woke while that evil god could only serve as a dog?

Awake... awake... awake...

Karen continued to summon, and the black chain kept circling beneath his feet, yet it never found a specific target.

At this moment, Karen slowly opened his eyes, lowered his head, and beheld the black shadow beneath his feet. Perhaps, once he completed his purification, this ability could be better manifested?

He raised his hand and pointed toward an ordinary tombstone nearby.

Whether it was the ancestor's or Recard's, Karen ultimately did not dare to touch them first.

The black chain upon the ground seemed to receive guidance, slowly extending toward that tombstone.

However, Karen felt only a slight tremor violently shake his head, and the black chain was instantly deflected back.

"Ugh..."

Karen let out a muffled groan, steadying his frame.

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